Sunday, April 26, 2009

Looking forward

One of the very, very nice things about comic books is that there is just so much fucking good stuff out there, it’s impossible to keep track of it all.

I firmly believe that no other medium matches comics for sheer regularity of brilliance. There is a whole bunch of really, really good shit out there that I haven’t caught up with, or is due to come out over the next few months, stuff that I’m looking forward to reading more than any movie due over the next year.

Most of these come from the usual suspects, creators who have crafted stories of astonishingly high quality over the years. There is still a general drive to make comics more of a mass medium, but living in the entertainment ghetto has its advantages, with more idiosyncratic visions and exceptional storytelling on an incredibly regular basis than any other medium.

So, with that in mind, here are a totally random bunch of comics that I’m truly looking forward to reading in the immediate future –

*Criminal.

* Fables. Following this in book form and love the fact the main plot has all been wrapped up nicely, and the comic is still ongoing. Inevitable spoilers are unavoidable in this wait, but they only increase the anticipation.

* The Wolverine story that Mark Millar is doing now. I’ll definitely buy the book, because I’m a little whore for the Millar, as previously established.

* Love and Rockets New Stories #2

* Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin! BATMAN AND ROBIN!

* And any more issues of the All Star version that show up. At this stage, any further comics would be little gifts of pure awesome.

* The Flash: Rebirth. Don’t care enough to be excited about it coming out every month, but enough to follow reaction and eventually read. I have a weird emotional attachment to the Flash and wish only the best for the Scarlet Speedster, whoever is under the mask.

* The Walking Dead. I don’t care if they’re not cool any more. Zombie movies are the best. So I still can’t figure out why I haven’t read any Walking Dead yet, but I will.

* Scalped is more fun than I ever expected it to be and I’m still two books behind. That’s going to be something I’ll have to catch up on soon.

* 100 Bullets. Now that it’s done, I will have to start from the beginning again, because I got completely fucking lost around #50 and couldn’t remember who was who. This had a fairly detrimental effect on reading the later books, but once I got that all figured out again, all will be right with the world.

* Any more Battlefields comics that Garth Ennis does. I’ve still to get the second one, but the Night Witches was an absolute gem of a comic and the standard has been set.

* There is a hole in my head where more Manga should be, so I’m looking to fill it with some Battle Royale, more Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, those last few Barefoot Gen comics I haven’t seen yet and the Lone Wolf and Cub comics that I missed. There are some there in the middle, but I got lost in the format changes and can’t remember what’s what.

* Nikolai Dante raising his army of thieves and whores and bringing down an empire. Years and years of plot machinations are reaching their climax in this strip and it’s fucking marvelous to see it unfold every week in 2000ad.

* More of those big black and white books that print comics I liked as a kid.

* The Muppet Show, because of Roger Langridge.

* More League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Because I’m not scared of not getting references.

* Darwyn Cooke’s adaption of The Hunter? Oh fuck yeah!

* There was just so much talent poured into the new Omega The Unknown series, so they must have produced something worth reading.

* More Hercules and Iron Fist and all those other second-tier titles that rely more on charm and good ideas than fanboy whimsy.

* More Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog by John Wagner. Cos Wagner is the best.

* Anything by Dangerous Dan Clowes, but the Death Ray in particular. I keep meaning to read it, but it just doesn’t happen.

* The last issue of Planetary.

* That Brian Wood comic about Vikings. I’ve tried to like Wood more, but never really connected, so I’m a little wary. Looks like fun anyway.

* Anything Evan Dorkin or Chris Ware or Joe Sacco or Peter Bagge or Kevin Huizenga or Eddie Campbell do. And a lot of things they’ve done over the past few years, that I haven’t got around to yet. That’s a fucking rich vein of comicolgy to mine out there.

* A thousand other great comics that are out there, waiting for this reader. The ones I don’t know about from unknown creators, the ones that transcend the medium and leave me breathless. I can’t wait for those suckers.

* And all those ones I’ll remember ten seconds after posting this.

* The Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos trade that I just got out of the library today. As sad as it sounds, the Infinity Gauntlet once blew my tiny little mind and I’m genuinely excited about finally reading the comics that led up to it. In fact, I think I’ll start right now.